This lesson provides free alternatives to use Claude Code without a subscription. You'll choose between Open Router, Google Gemini or DeepSeek as your backend, learning the same Claude Code CLI interface and features covered in Lesson 2.
⚠️ Important (January 2026): Google significantly reduced Gemini API free tier limits in December 2025. Daily request limits dropped 50-80% for most models. OpenRouter free models have daily request limits that vary by model. OpenRouter offers 30+ free models AI Free API but with daily request limits. Models rotate and quality varies. DeepSeek is not truly "free" but offers very low pricing (~$0.028-$0.42 per million tokens). Both deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner follow the same pricing: $0.028 per million input tokens (cache hit), $0.28 per million input tokens (cache miss), and $0.42 per million output tokens. Groq has a Free Tier for its API via GroqCloud. Plan your usage accordingly and have backup options ready.
All features work identically: Subagents, skills, MCP servers, hooks, and all other capabilities covered in Lessons 05-15 function the same way with free backends. The only difference is the backend AI model and API provider.
By using Gemini's free tier or DeepSeek's competitive API, you get ongoing free or low-cost consumption—no subscription required. This setup isn't just for learning; many developers use it as their daily driver. The free tiers are generous enough for real development work.
Before setup, decide which backend suits you. All three options provide identical Claude Code functionality:
This section guides you through configuring Claude Code with OpenRouter's multi-model platform.
OpenRouter aggregates multiple AI models (including Gemini, Qwen, Llama) under one API. This gives you maximum flexibility to experiment with different models without re-configuring.
Select your operating system:
If missing, install from nodejs.org
Open PowerShell and run:
Do NOT Replace $OPENROUTER_API_KEY Leave "api_key": "$OPENROUTER_API_KEY" exactly as written. The router reads your key from the environment variable you'll set in the next step.
Run PowerShell as Administrator:
Run this command (replace YOUR_KEY_HERE with your key from Step 1):
You should see your API key displayed ✅
✅ Done! Proceed to Step 3: Daily Workflow below.
Every time you want to code:
PowerShell 1 - Start router FIRST:
Leave this window running. You'll see a warning message—that's normal!
PowerShell 2 - Open a NEW PowerShell window and run:
Wait 10-20 seconds after running ccr code on first startup. The router needs time to initialize.
This section guides you through configuring Claude Code with Google's Gemini API.
Select your operating system:
Open PowerShell and run:
Paste this into %USERPROFILE%\.claude-code-router\config.json:
This section guides you through configuring Claude Code with DeepSeek's API.
Paste this into your config.json:
Both Gemini and DeepSeek use the same daily workflow and verification process.
Start a Claude session and say hi:
Expected: Claude responds with a greeting confirming it's working! ✅ Success!
Once your free setup is working, try these prompts:
Verify Basic Functionality:
"Hello! Confirm you're working by telling me: (1) what model you're using, (2) can you see files in this directory? List them if so."
Test File Operations:
"Create a simple test file called hello.txt with the text 'Free Claude Code setup works!' Then read it back to confirm."